Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A strong record with one exception. Its best grade is for walkability. 44% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train (the typical Irish town: 23%). People here tend to be in good health (B+): bad health runs at 86 and disability at 104 per 100 expected for its ages. Prices are high against local incomes: homes sell for a median €620,000, about 8.6 times what a household here earns in a year. The overall grade comes out at B, #125 of 320 Irish towns. On that grade it does better than just over three fifths of Irish towns. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B− for safety and B for hazard risk.
Figures: commuting and health, CSO Census 2022 · prices, Property Price Register, 2023 to 2025 · incomes, CSO · crime, CSO recorded crime, 2023 to 2025 · radon, EPA.
Each subject compares Dún Laoghaire with Irish towns of 2,500 or more, ordered by how far it is from the middle. Towns in other countries are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades Irish towns →
The 3 things Dún Laoghaire does most differently from other towns.
The register holds 1 building on the National Inventory in Dún Laoghaire, one of them of national importance.
16 archaeological sites are on the record here too.
Dún Laoghaire’s built heritage counts one inventory entry, of regional standing. 16 recorded monuments and archaeological sites lie here.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Dún Laoghaire.
Prices in Dún Laoghaire have outpaced Irish towns since 2010: the typical sale is up 104%, to €642K in 2025, against 77%. Renting privately is how 26% of households live. The owner-occupied share of households is 60%.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Second-hand homes | €620,000 | 749 |
| The last 12 months | €690,000 | 241 |
| Housing | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | €620K | €450K | €350K |
| Rent on a new tenancy, a month | €2,226 | €2,063 | €1,606 |
| Households renting privately | 26% | 19% | 22% |
| Households owning their home | 60% | 66% | 61% |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure
52 schools lie within 3 km of Dún Laoghaire: 30 primary schools, 16 secondary schools and 6 special schools. 2% of the schools teach through Irish, below both Co. Dublin’s towns (7%) and Irish towns (8%). The nearest secondary, Christian Brothers College, is 0.8 km away.
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Harold School Special classesLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 642 | Catholic |
| Blackrock College BoysLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Post-primary · Voluntary secondary | 1,041 | Catholic |
| Scoil Lorcáin GaelscoilTeaches through IrishPrimary | Primary | 485 | Catholic |
| Cabinteely Community School DEISIn the DEIS schemePost-primary · Community school | Post-primary · Community school | 512 | Inter-denominational |
| Schools within 3 km | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-sex secondaries | 63% | 40% | 39% |
| Teach through Irish | 2% | 7% | 8% |
| In the DEIS scheme | 19% | 40% | 35% |
| Pupils since 2019/20 | +2% | +4% | +4% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · Without school-level results from Ireland, the cards show no letters.
6.5% of residents give unpaid care to a relative or friend, above both Co. Dublin’s towns (5.3%) and Irish towns (5.4%). A disability affects a quarter of people in Dún Laoghaire. Ages taken into account, Dún Laoghaire counts 104 people with a disability for every 100 predicted.
| Census 2022 | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unpaid carers | 6.5% | 5.3% | 5.4% |
| With a disability | 25% | 21% | 22% |
| Good or very good health | 89% | 89% | 88% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
The census found 72% of 15- to 64-year-olds in work. 36% of commuters drove, below Co. Dublin’s towns (53%) and Irish towns (66%) alike. The average household earns €72,400 a year before tax.
| Census 2022 | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In work, 15 to 64 | 72% | 71% | 68% |
| Average trip | 31.2 min | 31.1 min | 27.6 min |
| Median household income | €72,400 | €72,780 | €57,760 |
| Trips under 15 minutes | 23% | 23% | 31% |
CSO, Census 2022 travel to work, work and education · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · Live Register · Census day was 3 April 2022, with working from home still common; shares are of those who travelled.
767 mm of rain falls in a year, near Co. Dublin’s towns (770 mm) and lower than Irish towns (937 mm). July afternoons in Dún Laoghaire average 19.5°C. Day and night, summer and winter, Dún Laoghaire averages 10.6°C.
| Climate, 1991–2020 | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 19.5°C | 19.9°C | 19.9°C |
| January low | 3.5°C | 2.9°C | 2.9°C |
| Average temperature over the year | 10.6°C | 10.3°C | 10.3°C |
| Rain a year | 767 mm | 770 mm | 937 mm |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
Woodland covers 0.5% of the land within 1 km, below Co. Dublin’s towns (2.3%) and Irish towns (2.7%) alike. Its 14 parks give Dún Laoghaire 35 ha of green space between them. Among the protected sites near Dún Laoghaire is South Dublin Bay.
| Outdoors | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea within 5 km | 56% | 3.7% | 0% |
| Woodland within 1 km | 0.5% | 2.3% | 2.7% |
| Paths per km² of town | 3.0 km per km² | 5.5 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² |
| Green space per 1,000 residents | 2.0 ha | 7.6 ha | 4.1 ha |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
Today stays dry, with only a light wind of up to 9 km/h and a low of 8°C. Plan indoor things for Wednesday, when about 30 mm of rain is forecast. Set beside Dún Laoghaire’s forecast, a normal November runs from 6°C at night to 11°C by day.
| Season | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 9°C | 4°C | 196 mm |
| Spring | 13°C | 6°C | 161 mm |
| Summer | 19°C | 12°C | 178 mm |
| Autumn | 14°C | 8°C | 232 mm |
Forecast: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · normals: Met Éireann, 1991–2020
17% are under 15, near Co. Dublin’s towns (17%) and lower than Irish towns (20%). Over-65s are 20% of the population. One measure of its mix: just over a quarter of residents were born abroad.
52.5% of Dún Laoghaire’s residents are women
9,453 women and 8,541 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 30% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 24% | 24% |
| 65+ | 20% | 14% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 6.6% | 8.5% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 7.5% | 11% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 23% | 30% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 4.6% | 5.2% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 59% | 44% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Dublin and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council runs Dún Laoghaire: Ireland has one tier of local government, with no town council below it. 43% of voters turned out at the last local elections, near Co. Dublin’s towns (42%) and lower than Irish towns (46%). Fine Gael lead Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council with 16 of 40 seats, but no party has a majority: 21 are needed.
| Turnout | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local elections, June 2024 | 43% | 42% | 46% |
| General election, November 2024 | 59% | 57% | 59% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
For its size, Dún Laoghaire has 1 inventory buildings per 10,000 residents, lower than both Co. Dublin’s towns (10) and Irish towns (48). The archaeological record lists 16 sites here. Dún Laoghaire’s built heritage counts one inventory entry, of regional standing.
| Heritage | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 1 | 10 | 48 |
| Homes built before 1919 | 25.4% | 1.2% | 3.4% |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 16 | 6 | 11 |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
Sandycove Beach, 1.4 km from Dún Laoghaire, is the closest bathing water; it was rated good in 2025. Landslides: none of Dún Laoghaire lies in a high-susceptibility zone. 0.3% of homes stand low near the coast, near both Co. Dublin’s towns (0%) and Irish towns (0%).
| Share of homes | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low-lying near the coast | 0.3% | 0% | 0% |
| Low-lying near a river | 0% | 0% | 0.5% |
EPA radon map, GSI landslide susceptibility and our low-lying homes estimate from OPW LiDAR.
Homes saw 5.8 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, below both Co. Dublin’s towns (7.5) and Irish towns (6.4). Among the graded crimes in Dún Laoghaire, the most frequent was damage to property (2023–2025). The overall crime rate is 45.5 per 1,000 residents a year.
Not in the gradeTheft, public order and offences found by Garda checks (drugs, road traffic, dangerous acts) are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence, burglary and damage.
| Per 1,000 a year | Dún Laoghaire | Co. Dublin | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burglary & damage | 5.8 | 7.5 | 6.4 |
| Violent crime | 4 | 5.3 | 5.7 |
| All recorded crime | 45.5 | 59.2 | 54.3 |
CSO recorded crime by Garda station, 2023–2025, shared to towns by where residents live · Census 2022 populations
Castles, abbeys, gardens, museums and days out in and near Dún Laoghaire. Best known first.
MuseumJames Joyce Museumin town · 40K visitors a year
MuseumNational Maritime Museum of Irelandin town
Castle · Office of Public WorksMonkstown Castlein town
CastleManderley Castle1.6 km outside town, to the southeast
CastleDalkey Castle & Heritage Centre700 m outside town, to the southeast
CastleArchbold's Castle700 m outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
37 notable people were born in Dún Laoghaire.
Bob Geldof: International Monetary Fund Photograph/Stephen Jaffe, Public domain · Ronnie Drew: Maelor, Public domain · George Abraham Grierson: Bassano Ltd, Public domain · Henry de Vere Stacpoole: Elliott & Fry (no individual credited), Public domain · Sarah Purser: John Butler Yeats, Public domain · Hilary Weston: Canadian Film Centre, CC BY 2.0
Neighbourhood in Dublin
17,994 people live in Dún Laoghaire, in the area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. TownRatings splits Dublin into neighbourhoods made from the CSO’s Electoral Divisions, named from Tailte Éireann’s gazetteer, so each has figures of its own.
Built from Tailte Éireann’s boundaries and the CSO’s Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0)
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Boundaries: Tailte Éireann, CSO Urban Areas 2022 and Electoral Divisions.
| Town | People | km | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dún Laoghaire | 17,994 | — | B | D | B− | B+ |
| Sallynoggin | 13,245 | 0.9 | B+ | D | B− | B+ |
| Monkstown | 9,831 | 2 | A− | D− | B+ | A |
| Dalkey | 8,275 | 2.1 | B | D− | B− | A |
| Foxrock | 12,163 | 3.1 | A− | D− | B+ | A+ |
| Blackrock | 12,816 | 3.2 | A | D− | A− | A+ |
| Ballybrack | 2,872 | 3.2 | B+ | C− | B | B+ |
People: CSO, Census 2022. Distances: centre to centre.
Dún Laoghaire had 17,994 people at the 2022 census, up from 17,409 in 2016: 3.4% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
The median age in Dún Laoghaire is 42.1, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns. 17% of residents are under 15 and 20% are 65 or over.
Sources: CSO, Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics (CC BY 4.0) · Tailte Éireann, Urban Areas and Electoral Divisions 2022 (CC BY 4.0) · TownRatings grades, run #544 (Irish towns only). Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).